FTP - Too Many Connections

[LexLuthor]

Asus RT-AX86U with current Merlin firmware. I use foldersync to schedule photo uploads via ftp daily. Last week and then again last night, the upload has failed due to too many connected users. At that point, I tried to connect via WinSCP and confirm the error. Last time, I just updated the maximum number of conncted users in FTP share and that fixed it. But how can I tell what these connections are? Are they phantom connections where maybe sometimes foldersync isn't closing down or could I have other people that I don't know about connected to me via ftp?

 

[bennor]

More context may help. What router, what firmware? Are you having an issue FTP'ing to a USB device connected to the router from within the local network? Or are you FTP'ing from a remote location to your router and to a USB device connected to the router? Or are you trying to FTP to some other device on your local network from either within or outside your local network?

PS: I don't use FTP to access a USB device connected to the router, but you may want to review the router system log to see what, if anything, it may show for FTP connections. Keep in mind FTP is not a secure protocol. It is best to use other more secure methods of file transfer including VPN or SFTP for remote access.

 

[LexLuthor]

More context may help. What router, what firmware? Are you having an issue FTP'ing to a USB device connected to the router from within the local network? Or are you FTP'ing from a remote location to your router and to a USB device connected to the router? Or are you trying to FTP to some other device on your local network from either within or outside your local network?

PS: I don't use FTP to access a USB device connected to the router, but you may want to review the router system log to see what, if anything, it may show for FTP connections. Keep in mind FTP is not a secure protocol. It is best to use other more secure methods of file transfer including VPN or SFTP for remote access.

Asus RT-AX86U with current Merlin firmware. I'm on the local network and the FTP connection is to a USB Hard Drive directly connected to the router. I didn't see anything about FTP in the system log.
One note is that I do have TLS disabled. I can't get foldersync to connect with that enabled. Enable WAN access is on, allow anonymous login is off and number of connections is set to 3. I don't think I need WAN access so I could probably be safe that way, but I'd prefer knowing if there are/were external connections before I make any changes. I would have thought there would be a way to see what's currently connected via FTP, but I don't see a way.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Network Tools - Netstat > Method = Netstat

 

[bennor]

Asus RT-AX86U with current Merlin firmware. I'm on the local network and the FTP connection is to a USB Hard Drive directly connected to the router. I didn't see anything about FTP in the system log.
One note is that I do have TLS disabled. I can't get foldersync to connect with that enabled. Enable WAN access is on, allow anonymous login is off and number of connections is set to 3. I don't think I need WAN access so I could probably be safe that way, but I'd prefer knowing if there are/were external connections before I make any changes. I would have thought there would be a way to see what's currently connected via FTP, but I don't see a way.

WAN access should absolutely be off/disabled unless there is some very specific reason why you have enabled it. Likewise AiCloud features should also absolutely be turned off unless there is some specific need for it. If you need remote access to the router GUI or network clients behind the router, use VPN server (on the VPN tab in the router GUI) instead.

Main question, why are you using FTP if you are inside the local network and accessing a USB drive attached to the Asus router? Why not use SMB/Samba (Windows File Explorer of Mac Finder)?

Not sure if the following is still applicable but it explains (at least for that time) how to enable FTP logging since the FTP log is or was at that time disabled under Asus-Merlin firmware.

FTP Logs location on AC66U

Trying to find the FTP logs location on an AC66u. Tried searching with WINSCP from root and below and found no ftp log. Thanks for any help. Cheers.

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The few time's I've used FTP on an Asus router with USB drive attached I used Filezilla (https://filezilla-project.org/) and didn't have a problem connecting using the default FTP settings on the router.

 

[LexLuthor]

WAN access should absolutely be off/disabled unless there is some very specific reason why you have enabled it. Likewise AiCloud features should also absolutely be turned off unless there is some specific need for it. If you need remote access to the router GUI or network clients behind the router, use VPN server (on the VPN tab in the router GUI) instead.

Main question, why are you using FTP if you are inside the local network and accessing a USB drive attached to the Asus router? Why not use SMB/Samba (Windows File Explorer of Mac Finder)?

Not sure if the following is still applicable but it explains (at least for that time) how to enable FTP logging since the FTP log is or was at that time disabled under Asus-Merlin firmware.

FTP Logs location on AC66U

Trying to find the FTP logs location on an AC66u. Tried searching with WINSCP from root and below and found no ftp log. Thanks for any help. Cheers.

www.snbforums.com

The few time's I've used FTP on an Asus router with USB drive attached I used Filezilla (https://filezilla-project.org/) and didn't have a problem connecting using the default FTP settings on the router.

I think I once had a family member from the WAN using Kodi connected to me via FTP. I guess there would be a better way to do that that I should look into if that person still needs access. Internerally, I find that moving files from my laptop to the files server works better/faster with FTP vs SMB. Foldersync can work via SMB and I can try that I suppose.
Seems like the easiest solution for me would be to just disable WAN access to the FTP server and I should be safe, right?
I'm still not sure someone is really accessing my FTP server (I haven't caught any high data transfer utiilzation) or if it's just some sort of ghost connection. Seems like no easy way to see that so I'll probably just disable WAN and move on.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Seems like the easiest solution for me would be to just disable WAN access to the FTP server and I should be safe, right?

Correct (assuming your local LAN is a trusted network).

Seems like no easy way to see that so I'll probably just disable WAN and move on.

Did you not see my previous reply to your post?

 

[LexLuthor]

Correct (assuming your local LAN is a trusted network). This is what I do (I don't even enable TLS).


Did you not see my previous reply to your post?

Yes, I did, but doing a Postconf script is what I meant by "no easy way". I'm sure I could figure it out, but it's not really worth it. There's just some movies on the ftp server, even if someone was in there, there's nothing really to take.
I disabled FTP via WAN and re-tested one more time to try to get TLS working with foldersync, but it connects, but can't see the folders with TLS, so I'll continue to leave that off. Merlin re-enables it anytime I do a f/w update so when I see foldersync fail after a f/w update, I remember to go disable it again.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I disabled FTP via WAN and re-tested one more time to try to get TLS working with foldersync, but it connects, but can't see the folders with TLS,

You probably need to set the require_ssl_reuse parameter with a custom config file:

Adding a script

Would be appreciated if someone showed me how to add: require_ssl_reuse=NO I've read through some scripts but I'm unsure which file it gets added to and how to upload into the router. I have Ax86u firmware 3004.388.8_2 Thank you

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